


Be Who You Are, No Compromise

by fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat



Series: The Phantom Chronicles [9]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV), The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alex Mercer Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex will defend the werewolves with his last breath, F/F, F/M, Homophobia, Luke's nieces taught him how to make braids, M/M, Reggie has been introduced to Star Wars, Shadowhunter AU, Willie is a great guy all around, do not mess with Julian's kids you will regret it, let's welcome Kayla into this AU, the tags are honestly all over the place but I kinda like it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28874856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat/pseuds/fangirl_in_a_trenchcoat
Summary: "Alex."Alex froze. He wanted to believe that he hadn’t heard well, that maybe he was just imagining things. He was going to turn around and see no one and this would all be a big misunderstanding on his part.His hopes were destroyed just as he did turn around and came face to face with the last people he expected to see there out of the blue. Because really, what the hell were his parents doing in the Institute?
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Carrie Wilson, Flynn/Carrie Wilson (Background), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson (Background), past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (mentioned)
Series: The Phantom Chronicles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079396
Comments: 11
Kudos: 69





	Be Who You Are, No Compromise

**Author's Note:**

> tw: homophobia 
> 
> Also disclaimer, I really didn’t remember how exactly werewolves worked in the Shadowhunter book world so this is probably a mix from the books, show and teen wolf😂
> 
> Also fun fact, I wanted to make Willie a bit snappy as a result of the full moon, but soon realized I cannot write that man mean to Alex so we're back to love all around.
> 
> Enjoy☺️

"I do not understand you sometimes," Alex said.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, I’m a very complex person," Reggie said, his eyes still closed as he took deep breaths.

"You're an archer, Reg, you always look for the best vantage point. You once shot a demon on the street from the roof of a fifteen storey building," Alex said moving his fingers over Reggie's wrist, feeling his pulse only now starting to get back to normal.

"That's different, I focus on the demon, not the drop. Adrenaline is your friend," Reggie said, finally opening his eyes. "I know it’s stupid-"

"Oh, no, no, no," Alex rushed to say, "that’s not what I meant, you can’t control how your mind reacts to certain things, I mean, hello!" He pointed to himself making Reggie smile slightly. "I'm sorry, I don’t understand myself half the time either to be honest."

"At least you’re usually careful," Reggie said as he got up, Alex helping him steady himself, "Luke just jumps on ledges like it’s nothing. And you know, if you fall down fifteen floors, no rune is putting you back together."

"You’re good to go?" Alex asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I’m okay," Reggie said with a smile. "Let's just go to the woods where everything's flat."

"Yeah, okay," Alex said with a smile, "just try not to look down again until we're off the roof, please."

"Kind of hard, but I think I can manage."

They did get off the roof without Reg almost passing out again, which Alex considered a success, and started heading to the woods. It was still relatively early, not even past midnight, so there were lots of people around on the street. And sure Alex and Reggie were glamoured, but Alex preferred being able to move freely. And he'd most definitely prefer it if the streets were empty tonight.

In retrospect, they probably didn't have anything to worry about, but keeping an eye out was always a good idea. 

"I always find it weird when people can't see us," Reggie said as they crossed the street. "Remember that time we were ghosts?"

"I don't think I'll ever forget," Alex answered. "But you know, I don't think people would take it lightly if they just saw us carrying weapons in the middle of the street."

"It's just a bow," Reggie said with a shrug, "and a few arrows. And you have a couple of daggers. I mean honestly, it's not that bad. Flynn walks around with fourteen knives on her at any given time."

"That's true." Alex chuckled. "I doubt mundanes would see it that way though."

"Yeah, probably... You talked with Willie? Do we need to watch out for anything?" he asked as they started closing in to the woods and the people around them lessened. No one would want to be caught alone in the woods at night.

"He said everyone should be fine and I mean we haven't really had any problems during the last full moons so I'm guessing-" Alex was cut off by a scream. "Shit," he said and they both took off towards the sound. Reggie had already taken an arrow out, most of them filled with tranquilizer, they didn't want to cause any more harm than necessary. Full moons were difficult for certain werewolves, their actions not always their fault.

Alex noticed the girl the second they reached the darker areas surrounded by the trees, bleeding on the ground. They heard something running further inside the woods and Reggie turned to run after it.

"You can't go alone!" Alex hurried to say, not wanting to leave the girl alone either.

"We at least have to try! We can't let them hurt anyone else!" Reggie said. "I'll be fine, take care of her." He pointed back at the girl and disappeared through the trees.

Alex didn't have any time to freak out about everything because there was a girl terrified and bleeding on the ground next to him. He rushed towards her, kneeling on her side. She was gasping, trying to breathe through the pain and latched onto Alex's hand as soon as he was next to her, a plead for help. He looked at the bite on her side, which - good news - was not bleeding anymore, but it must hurt like hell and there was nothing Alex could do about that.

"Hey, hi, my name is Alex," he told the girl trying to focus her attention on him. "You're going to be okay."

"I-" she gasped, shutting her eyes in pain as she thrashed on the ground. Part of Alex hoped she would just pass out so that she wouldn't be in agony anymore.

"I know, it hurts and it's brutal, but you're going to be okay," he said keeping his voice level and squeezing her hand.

Her eyes focused on him for a second and she managed to ask through the pain, "Wh-What was that?"

"A wolf," Alex said hoping that maybe a distraction could be good.

"In LA?" she groaned, closing her eyes again. They really needed to get out of there.

"Listen, we really need to get you out of here, do you live close by?"

"No, you can't-" she gasped. "No."

"Okay, okay," Alex said running through options in his head. Well, one of them was on the top, but he was really hoping they could avoid it for tonight. Then again they didn't have many alternatives and they needed someone who would at least understand.

Alex took his phone out just as Reggie came running back. "I couldn't catch up, it was too dark and the wolf too fast, it disappeared," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"We need to get out of here," Alex said, already dialing the number. The hold on his hand had started loosening and the girl looked now more exhausted than in agony. She was in pain that much was clear, but she wasn't screaming anymore.

"Hey, I'm Reggie," Reggie said as he kneeled down on her other side with a smile. "What's your name?"

"K-Kayla," she said.

"That's a pretty name," he said. "We will help you, okay?"

"What-" she stopped with a hiss. "What are you guys?"

Alex's phone was ringing.

"The good guys," Reggie said. "Not that the wolf was bad. Probably. It's a long story, we just really need to get out of here."

"Hello?" came finally the response on the phone.

"Hey, I'm sorry for calling, I really wouldn't if I thought there was a better option-"

"Alex, what's wrong?" Willie asked.

"A girl was bitten," he said, slightly turning around, letting Reggie talk to Kayla who seemed to be doing a better job, distracting her from this whole mess. "I don't know where else we can go and the Institute-"

"Shit, okay, yeah, come over," he said, Alex hearing some shuffling around.

"Thank you," Alex breathed out as he hung up. He turned back around seeing the girl focused on something Reggie was saying. He wasn't sure if she actually understood him because she really just seemed on the verge of unconsciousness, but at least it was working to make her push the pain to the side for a few seconds. "Okay, let's try and get up," Alex said.

"Willie is a great guy," Reggie started saying again as they tried to help her get up with the least amount of pain as possible. "He will help you with this."

"I-I need a- a hospital," Kayla said as they all stood up and Alex rushed to catch her before she fell forward with a yelp of pain. This wasn't going to work.

"Reg, help me out here," Alex said motioning towards the pocket he knew he kept his stele in. Reggie didn't need to be told more as he took it out and draw a strength rune on Alex's neck.

"Wha- I-I." Kayla squinted at them and the rune. "I'm seeing things," she said.

"Believe me, you're not," Reggie said just as Alex carefuly lifted her up, holding her bridal style. It was the only way they were going to make it to anywhere.

They started walking towards Willie's apartment, Reggie texting the others about the wolf in the woods and keeping the conversation going, trying to make sure she wasn't going to freak out anymore than she already was. She seemed to lose touch with reality more and more as they walked, trying to avoid any main roads, until she went still on Alex's arms. Reggie looked to make sure she was still breathing fine and after he gave him a thumbs up, Alex was able to breathe out again.

"What's the point in being out here if we didn't make it in time?" Alex sighed.

"We can't save everyone, Alex," Reggie said. "And she's going to be okay. It will be hard, but at least we found her before she could hurt herself. Or others."

"Yeah, I know, she's just..." he trailed off. "She has no idea about the bomb we're gonna drop on her tomorrow. Werewolves, vampires, Shadowhunters, demons, I mean, by the Angel, Reg, how do we not freak out more often?"

"Are you okay?" Reggie looked at him, slightly concerned. "Do you want me to take her?"

"No, I got her," Alex said, "and I'm fine really, I just... An hour ago she was a mundane. Now she's a werewolf. Her whole life's gonna be uprooted."

"At least she's gonna have a pack," Reggie said, "she'll be surrounded by people who've had similar experiences and can help her out. And you know, the Shadow World is not all laws and demons. It has some pretty cool things to offer too."

"I guess..." Alex said as they neared the apartment. Willie buzzed them up and soon enough they were walking in, placing Kayla on the bed in the guest room.

"What happened?" Willie asked Alex as Reggie used a washcloth to clean the blood off the bite.

"We were too late," Alex said, the guilt seeping into his voice. "I'm sorry, we wouldn't have come over, we just-"

"Alex, where else would you go?" he cut him off.

"I don't know, literally anywhere?" Alex said. "Are you okay?" He looked at Willie worried as if he would break down at any moment.

"Alex, you need to chill," Willie said with a smile, trying to reassure him. "I'm okay, see?" And yeah, he looked fine, Alex couldn't argue with that. "I've been doing this for a while." It took time for a werewolf to be able to resist turning during the full moon, but stress free situations were always preferred during that time of the month. And sure, Willie had been doing this for six years, but Alex and Reggie bringing a soon to be werewolf into his apartment wasn't what Alex would call _serene_.

"What happened with the girl?" he asked again.

"Her name's Kayla," Reggie said with a smile as he came up to them. "I tried to go after the wolf, but it was too fast."

"You saw the wolf?"

"Yeah, brown fur, white on the back..." Reggie said.

"White?" Willie said confused. "Not one of us..."

"A rogue?" Alex said. "We have rogues in the city now, that's... that is beautiful." He sighed leaning back on the wall.

"We don't know if they're new, maybe something went wrong today," Reggie tried to remain positive. Unaffiliated werewolves going around biting people was arguably not great. He was right though, they hadn't had any problems before... That they knew of. "Did the others find anything?"

Alex took his phone out seeing no new messages. "Nothing yet," he said.

"I should go help," Reggie said.

"Alone?" Alex tried to protest.

"I mean someone has to stay here in case she wakes up. Not that you're not the nicest person ever," Reggie rushed to say looking at Willie, "but a familiar face should help with the freaking out."

Alex wasn't sure he counted as a familiar face, but he was right either way. "Be careful," he said.

"Call us if anything changes."

"You too," Alex said just as Reggie closed the door behind him.

"Haven't done this in a while..." Willie said with a sigh as he closed the door to the guest room. "At least you found her first. Finding out on her own would have been so much worse."

Alex knew how Willie had been turned into a werewolf. He didn't know all the specifics, Willie didn't really like talking about it, but it hadn't been easy. Navigating the first few months was already hard, especially the full moons and having no pack to back you up? It was terrifying. 

Maybe Willie was right. They hadn't been able to save her, but at least they hadn't left her alone. She would freak out, yes, but she at least had a family if she chose to. And sure, Alex wasn't a werewolf, he didn't know what that entailed, but when it came to choosing your family... Well, he had a bit of experience in that area. Having people who loved you and would do anything to help you through your worst while they brought out your best... He had that. He was grateful for that.

"You're staying the night then?" Willie asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah... Unless you don't want me," Alex said with a small smile.

"Nah, you're a pretty decent guy, you can stay," Willie said making him chuckle.

"Scandalous, letting a Shadowhunter stay over..."

"I'm pretty sure the pack likes you more than me by this point," Willie said.

"I seriously doubt that, but the guys like you too, yeah. I'm telling you this because I wasn't sure whether it was evident from that weekend they all decided they were having a sleepover here and I wanted to make certain you knew."

Willie smiled. "I helped orchestrate that."

"I know, I'm just not sure why, but I'm not going to judge." Alex smiled back. Everything had actually been working great for him for a while now which honestly felt a little bizarre, but he was trying not to dwell that much on it. He usually always had something big in his head just to place all his worry somewhere, but things had been uncharacteristically quiet on that front. Sure, there were still the little things, but he was dealing with them. He felt pretty good. He just hoped it was going to last.

* * *

The first thing Alex did when he woke up at 8:30 was to call Julie. Ever since her and Flynn had permanently moved into the LA Institute a month ago, both Julie and Luke had seemed to realize that they had more time and they'd actually started sleeping like normal people. Well, sometimes. And you know, as normal as it gets for a Shadowhunter. It was a start.

"Hello?" Julie answered the phone, her voice soft but not really sleepy. He hadn't woken her up, that was a good start.

"Hey, do you think you can come over?" Alex asked her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing, Kayla hasn't woken up yet, I just don't think waking up in an apartment with two guys she doesn't know is gonna be reassuring. Even if she actually remembers me," Alex said.

"Oh, yeah, of course, I'll come over," Julie said sounding more awake than before. "Luke, baby, you have to let me go," she said her voice a bit more distant as she talked to him.

"Never," Alex heard him murmur somewhere in the background, making him roll his eyes fondly.

"Okay, I'll be there in like, fifteen minutes," Julie said again.

"You're sure?" Alex asked amused.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll find a way to untangle myself," she said, "see you soon."

"You called Julie?" Willie came back in the bedroom as soon as he'd hung up, holding two cups of coffee.

"Yeah, she's detaching herself from Luke and she's on her way," Alex said accepting one of the cups and taking a sip, sighing contentedly. "No energy rune can ever replace that," he said, enjoying the warmth between his hands.

"I think you might be biased because they almost killed you," Willie said as he sat down in front of him.

"They didn't _kill_ me, I just think my mind made the connection and that's hard to break. You were there, you remember how I was."

"I remember you slept for twenty two hours," Willie said with a smile, "and you didn't remember what you were saying that night."

"And that's why I actually value sleep," Alex finished. "It keeps me from saying stupid stuff."

"Okay," Willie said with a chuckle.

Julie actually arrived about twenty minutes later, awake and ready to help, somehow making Alex feel underdressed. Not to say that she was wearing anything extravagant, just a pair of jeans and a grey top, but she looked way more... stylish, considering Alex was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and had thrown on the second pink hoodie he now owned - Willie had bought it for him in his birthday and Alex kept it over there. Ah well, what can you do.

"Julie!" Willie came in from the kitchen. "Good morning," he said with a smile.

"Good morning." She smiled back. "How are things going here?"

"Quietly," Alex said just as they heard someone else coming up the stairs.

"Hey," Reggie said.

"Oh yeah, Reggie came along," Julie said.

"I just wanted to make sure she was okay," he said.

"You didn't find the wolf?" Willie asked.

"No," Julie said with a sigh. "We weren't late after Reggie texted, but there was no one around. No one else was bitten either, we would have found them."

"They're not your responsibility," Alex said, seeing Willie's troubled expression.

"They're no one's responsibility, that's the thing," he said, "if something goes wrong they're not protected by the law. And I don't even know if they deserve it, maybe what happened yesterday wasn't an accident, but if it was? It could happen again next month. It's not like we can pass out flyers on the streets, _hey, if you're lost, come join the pack_."

Alex wrapped an arm around his waist as Willie leaned on him. He understood how the weight fell on his shoulders as the Alpha of the pack, but this really just wasn’t up to him. All he could do was help the people who came to him, which he’d done and he was great at it. Alex knew he’d do anything for the pack to survive.

"Who are you, people?" they suddenly heard a voice and turned around to see Kayla who was standing in front of them awake and mainly apprehensive.

"Hi," Julie said with a smile as she moved in front of the guys, but still not too close to her. "I’m Julie, this is Willie and you might remember Alex and Reggie from yesterday? They’re the ones who found you," she said pointing at the guys, Reggie giving her a small wave.

"I-I don’t-" she started, "how did I get here?"

"You didn’t want us to take you to your home," Alex said, "and we really needed to get you somewhere safe."

Kayla looked at him, a flicker of recognition in her eyes. Maybe everything was slowly starting to clear up.

"Do you feel okay? You need anything? We have coffee," Willie offered.

Kayla looked at him confused. She was still trying to figure out what was happening and they hadn’t even gotten to the attack yet.

"What happened last night?" she asked.

"You don’t remember?" Julie asked her.

"No, the things I remember don’t make any sense, so I’m obviously hangovered or something and this is going to make sense soon," she said, trying to rationalize the situation.

They all looked at each other. "Do you want to sit down?" Reggie offered.

Kayla still looked confused, but she sat on one of the chairs just as Alex, Reggie and Julie took the couch and Willie the armchair, only slightly closer to her.

"You were bitten by a wolf last night," Julie said.

Kayla was only starting to remember what had happened, evident by her eyes not appearing as shocked as Alex would have expected. Her hand flew to her side and she slightly lifted her shirt to see the bite had already disappeared. Werewolf healing will do that to you.

"H-How is that already... It’s gone."

"It’s healed," Willie said. "The wolf that bit you wasn’t normal."

"You keep saying wolf, there are not wolves running free in LA!" she said trying to make sense of it.

"That’s true," Willie said, "that was a werewolf."

Kayla looked at him for a few seconds, not really saying anything. Alex was willing to bet she was contemplating it, but eventually logic would prevail and she would-

"Okay, you’re crazy," she said and made to get up. Yep, she would leave.

"Wait," Julie said, her hand shooting out, "I know this sounds crazy, I know it doesn’t make any sense, but there must be some part of you that’s wondering about last night, right? People don’t just get bitten by stray wolves and then wake up fine."

"Werewolves?" Kayla asked incredulously. "Yes, this is weird, but werewolves? This is real life, not _Twilight_!"

"What's _Twilight_?" Reggie asked.

"Not important right now," Willie said and turned back to Kayla. "It was a full moon last night. Werewolves that unwillingly turn during a full moon are not really aware of what they’re doing. We don’t know who did this to you and I know it’s no consolation, but it’s a good thing Alex and Reggie found you. This is real and it’s terrifying, but you’re not alone."

"Look, you sound really nice and all, but this can’t-" she started to say.

"Before you decline, can I just say something?" Willie cut her off. She didn’t really seem like she wanted to hear, but she nodded nonetheless.

Willie smiled slightly and held his hand out, palm up. Kayla looked at him confused, but then he made a little curt move outwards bringing his claws out.

Kayla fell back on her chair with a yelp. She looked at Willie with wide eyes and then back at the others on the couch. None of them was surprised really, Willie could have probably turned into a wolf in the living room and Alex would have still found him adorable. He was probably biased.

"You’re a werewolf?" Kayla shouted. "You’re a werewolf! I’m a werewolf? I can’t be a werewolf, I have class tomorrow!"

"You can still go to that," Reggie offered.

Kayla turned to look at three of them. "You’re werewolves too?"

"No, not really," Alex said. "Let’s just stay on the werewolf part for now."

"Wha- Werewolves are real? This is real? Oh my God, this is real."

"Well, you know what they say, all the stories are true," Reggie said.

"Nobody says that!"

"Yeah, Reg, I’m pretty sure that’s more of a Shadow World thing," Julie said.

"What’s the Shadow World?" Kayla asked.

"Okay, let’s just take a step back," Willie said. "I’m Willie, the Alpha of the werewolf pack here in LA. Nobody's forcing you to do anything, but you’re gonna need some help from people who know what’s happening to you. There’s a reason wolves run in packs."

Kayla sighed, a hand going over her face. "I need time to think. I need time to let it sink in because I’m still not sure this is not just a hallucination or something," she said looking over at the couch. "Do you all have matching tattoos?" she suddenly asked.

Alex, Reggie and Julie all turned to look at the Voyance runes on their right hands. "Uh, yes?" Alex said not wanting to get into Shadowhunters just yet. She was still trying to wrap her mind around werewolves.

"Yeah, you know what? I’m gonna work on the werewolf part first," Kayla eventually said. There was silence for a few seconds until Kayla looked back at Reggie almost confused. "Were you talking to me about _Star Wars_ yesterday?"

Reggie grinned. "Willie made us watch it, I deemed the whole trilogy amazing and it actually worked to get your mind off of the pain for a while," he said.

She smiled slightly. "Thanks," she said. "Also, you do know it’s not just a tri-" she cut herself off when Willie made a subtle gesture Alex managed to catch. By the Angel, how many space movies were there?

* * *

"That went surprisingly well," Julie said as they were heading back to the Institute. "There’s something in the way Willie talks, he makes me want to join the pack too."

"Well, they didn’t make him Alpha because he’s pretty," Alex said with a chuckle.

"I think it’s gonna work out well, Kayla will join the pack. She seemed to warm up to the idea by the end. I mean she still has to learn about everything, but the werewolves here are nice. And now that they like us they’re nice to us too. Thank you, Alex," Reggie said.

"I didn’t do anything," he said.

"Dude, you talked to Alec to get the pack out of possible trouble," Julie said. "You and Carrie saved Willie!"

"You also rounded up all the werewolf hunters to do the spell," Reggie said.

"And you punched a guy in the face! That was my personal favorite you know," Julie said with a grin. Okay, maybe he had done some stuff, but really, what else was he supposed to do?

They reached the Institute, going through the gates and up the steps. Alex really just wanted to change back into sweatpants and a hoodie and just go play the drums. It’d been a weird night and he still felt guilty they hadn’t found the wolf. Whether they needed to be helped or restrained. He certainly knew Luke would be happy with Alex's choice of spending his time.

They opened the front door, the Institute quiet this early in the morning. Julie and Reggie headed to the kitchen since they hadn’t had the time to get some coffee and Alex was about to go up to his room to change, when something came towards him in a blur and grabbed him, throwing them both to the floor. Alex's instincts kicked in, his leg looping around the other person's own, using his weight to turn them around. He grabbed their hands and pinned them with one of his own over their head.

When he finally looked at the person he was straddling, he couldn’t help but groan.

"Alex, hey, man! You’re here, how nice," Luke said with a smile as if this was completely normal.

"What the hell, Luke?" Alex asked without moving away.

"You were going upstairs," he said.

"So?" Alex asked still not sure what was going on.

"We were gone for two seconds, what happened?" they heard Reggie and turned to see both him and Julie on the kitchen doorway, looking at them with a mug of coffee each on their hands.

"It’s too early for this," Julie said with a sigh as she took a sip from her coffee.

Alex eventually got back up, Luke following. There was something about him, he seemed more jittery than usual, almost as if there was something keeping him on edge.

"What happened?" Alex asked now starting to worry as well.

"I wanted to call, but I’ve gone through the whole Institute and I have no idea where my phone is and then I just hoped that maybe you would stay at Willie's, but..."

"Luke, what’s wrong?" Alex asked again, not really sure what would be bad enough to make Luke want to keep him away from the Institute.

"Your-"

"Alex."

Alex froze. He wanted to believe that he hadn’t heard well, that maybe he was just imagining things. He was going to turn around and see no one and this would all be a big misunderstanding on his part.

His hopes were destroyed just as he did turn around and came face to face with the last people he expected to see there out of the blue. Because really, what the hell were his parents doing in the Institute?

"Luke said you had some errands to run," his mom said as she and his dad came down the stairs.

"Uhm, yeah," Alex said not really sure what he was supposed to do there exactly. He still talked to his parents a few times a month not about anything specific really, it's not like there was much he wanted to share with them. Their relationship had taken a different turn the second they'd let him leave the house and hadn't asked him to come back. If they didn't care, why should he?

There was still a little part of him he tried not to listen to that often because it did nothing but make him feel sad and anxious about controlling things he didn't have any power over. A part that wanted his parents to suddenly understand and accept him and just start talking to him like he was their son and not some distant relative they had to call every once in a while just to show some interest. The same part that still craved any kind of validation from them beyond successful missions.

The truth was, he hadn't actually seen his parents in a little over a year. They lived in Idris - and that was great, good for them - and Alex lived in Los Angeles and he had his separate little life away from them with all those people who hadn't basically disowned him just because he was gay. Yeah, that sounded like a better living environment. 

They hadn't even called, informed anyone, they'd just shown up. Alex was a hundred percent sure if anyone in the Institute knew they were coming over they would have let him know. And his mom just sounded so casual like they didn't have to see each other since last year or talk since two weeks ago. This was what it was gonna be like? Should he just pretend that everything was fine and he didn't feel like he was gonna throw up from the way his heart was trying to beat out of his chest?

His relationship with them had been fine while he'd kept on pretending...

"We will be staying for a few days, there are some issues that need to be resolved..." she said. 

Is this really all she had to say? _We haven't seen each other in more than a year, mom!_

"We should catch up," his dad said, making Alex internally cringe at the awkwardness of the whole conversation. Yes, they should catch up about the last three years of his life, but he seriously doubted they wanted to hear what he had to say. He also seriously doubted he would be able to get out what he wanted to say.

"Okay," he said instead, knowing none of them was going to make good on that deal and convincing himself that it was actually fine. 

His mom gave him a smile that was way too still to not be forced, that made Alex want to cry. All this time they were away, he didn't have to actually face them every time they talked, sure they didn't sound warm and welcoming, but he could just imagine that maybe it wasn't that bad. Having them in front of him and seeing his mom pretending to be cool with everything just because there were people around... That just hurt. At least his dad had the decency to look uncomfortable by what was happening and maybe... guilty? No, that was probably Alex's head trying to find something that wasn't there.

"You must be Julie," his mom continued, looking behind Alex her smile turning slightly more genuine.

"Hello," Julie said making Alex almost do a double take. He'd never heard Julie sounding so... cold to people she'd never met before. Julie was always nice and warm with others. Even with Caleb she'd tried to play nice until they were certain about what had been going on. This was definitely new.

"We were so happy to hear about you and Luke," his mom continued.

_There it was._

Alex's blood ran cold and it took everything in him to not just scream right there and then. No, there's a right time for everything.

"I'm gonna go change," he said instead and ran up the stairs before anyone could actually say anything to stop him. He went straight into his room, closing the door behind him and just slid down until he was sitting, a hand going through his hair while he took a shaky breath.

Why couldn't they have just _called_? Give him a day or even a fucking _hour_ to just get ready for all of this. Did they just not care anymore? Did they think Alex wouldn't care? Had they not realized how screwed up things were between them and the kind of toll it had taken on him? Why couldn't they just _care_?

A small sob escaped him and he just let his head fall on top of his knees in front of him. He needed to calm down, he didn't need to have a panic attack right now, no he needed to deal with whatever this was head on and then his parents would be gone again and he would be able to breahe again.

He just couldn't stop replaying his mom's reaction in his head.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this, he was doing great, he was feeling _good_ , why now?

He almost didn't hear his phone ringing. To be honest, he didn't even want to answer it, but he glanced at the caller ID and thought maybe... maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. 

"Can you please explain to me why I found a dagger in one of the kitchen drawers?" Willie said. "Also can I use this to slice up some bread because I haven't been bothered to do the dishes and I'm running out of knives or am I gonna get smitten down by an Angel in the middle of my kitchen?"

Alex definitely didn't expect to hear that, but all he could do was start laughing. He wasn't even sure how he'd just done a complete 180, but really, how else could he even begin to answer this?

"I love you," he said, still smiling. "So much." He wanted to emphasize it as much as he could, he wanted to get out there and tell his parents, _hey, guess what!_ And at times like this he thought he could. But then he was standing in front of them again and he was scared about what was gonna follow. It couldn't be much worse than the last time, right? Well, maybe the part of him that was holding him back knew it could.

"I love you too," Willie said. "Is everything okay? You sound weird."

"Yeah..." Alex sighed. "My parents are here. And we're already having a great time."

"Oh shit, they just showed up like that?"

"Yep. And acting like everything's fine, not that we haven't seen each other in over a year, but you know, who's counting?"

"You wanna come back here? I have sandwiches!"

Alex chuckled. "No, I can't, I have to figure out why they're here. They said there are some issues that need to be resolved, but I'm aware of the Institute's issues and have no idea how they fit into that, so I'm taking action before the other shoe drops."

"There you go, determination looks good on you," Willie said.

"Thanks, I try," Alex said with a smile.

"Call me if you need anything, okay? The bar is closed today, I'll be home."

"Okay," Alex said. "Oh, also, even though not recommended, you can use the dagger to make a sandwich. I promise no Angel will smite you down."

"That's great, I really didn't want to do the dishes," he said. "Why was it here though?"

"In case of an emergency," Alex said as if though it was obvious. "There's another one under the bed and a stele in the pencil box in the living room. Oh, there's also a seraph blade in the back of your closet," he added.

"Why are we turning my apartment into an armory again?"

"In case of an emergency!" Alex said again. "Also, that barely qualifies as an armory, that's the least of what I have on me when I go out."

"Well, I'm using the dagger as a knife," Willie said, "and the stele would make a could paper weight... Hey, keep bringing more stuff over, maybe I'll redecorate!"

"Yeah, okay." Alex chuckled again as he got up, actually moving to his closet so he could change. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, good luck," he said.

"Thank you," Alex said and hung up. He was certainly going to need luck.

He eventually opened the door again, bracing himself for what was to come, only to come face to face with his dad. Wow, okay, that came faster than he'd expected. Was that how it was going to be like for as long as they stayed there?

"Oh, hey, Alex," he said as if he didn't expect him to come out of his own room. So this was going to be one of those awkward conversations then.

"Hi," Alex said warily, waiting for what was to follow.

"Look, I know things haven't been great between us for a while now..." he started which made Alex scoff.

"No, you disowning me for not liking women hasn't been that great for me either," he said.

"We didn't-"

"I literally ran away," Alex cut him off, "and you didn't care. That does not make you parents of the year either. You show up here after we haven’t seen each other for a year and you act as if everything's fine? Why are you even here?"

"Your mother told you, there was an issue we needed to look into," his dad said, his voice firm, still not really answering his question.

"That's not good enough," he said.

"Look, Alex, I'm trying here-"

"This is _trying_? Trying to do what exactly? Trying to pretend that everything is fine when it clearly isn't? Trying to pretend that our relationship isn't screwed up? Trying to pretend that you're fine with this when you so clearly aren't? Mom was just beaming downstairs about Luke and Julie!"

"That wasn't about you."

"Okay." Alex gave a humorless chuckle. "Let's just keep pretending eveyrthing's fine. I'm gonna go hit some drums with some sticks, I guess I'll see you around," he said and left the other way he came from, not really looking forward to bump into another parent who would potentially start a much worse conversation.

* * *

"I just don't understand why they showed up in the first place. We know what's happening in the Institute, there was no need for outside help." Alex sighed as he looked at the ceiling. 

The whole day hadn't exactly been great. Alex had barricaded himself in the music room which would have been great under any other circumstances, but now all he wanted to do was just make as much noise as possible to drown everything else out. He definitely appreciated the others giving him space and not hovering over him asking if he was okay - the answer was no - until he came back out feeling just a tiny bit less awful. The Institute was supposed to be a safe place, he didn't like walking around in fear that he'd come face to face with his parents and them asking him a much normal question they would someone who hasn't spent the past three years beliving they hated him.

He'd eventually gravitated towards the others and they'd all ended up in one of the common rooms. Alex was lying on the couch with his head on Carrie's lap, Luke was sitting by his feet trying to make Julie's hair into two french braids - key word _trying_ \- while she sat on the floor and Flynn and Reggie were on their other side, Flynn sitting in one of the armchairs and Reggie beside her, perched on the arm, both of them looking at something on Flynn's phone.

"Did you ask Diana?" Reggie asked.

"She doesn't know," he said. "How does the head of the Institute not know?"

"Maybe they have orders from someone higher up," Julie said with an 'ouch' in the end when Luke tugged at her hair a bit harder than intended. He murmured a 'sorry' and went back to his task, completely invested in it.

"Why do you care anyway? They're gonna do whatever it is they have to do and then leave," Flynn said. "Until then though I had a great plan of kissing the hell out of Carrie whenever we're in the same room as them."

"Great plan," Carrie agreed.

"Yes, thank you for your sacrifice," Alex said with a chuckle.

"Look, Alex, I'm gonna be honest with you," Carrie started.

"Oh God," he muttered 

"Your parents are assholes," she said, "and it's not your fault they don't get it. I mean, I'm pretty sure your mom thinks I turned you gay or something. How do you even begin to unpack that?"

"Oh no, don't take that personally, she's gone through a lot of people over the years," Alex said. "She just doesn't like you because you were my first non straight friend."

"Alex, no one in this room is straight," Carrie deadpaned.

"She doesn't know that."

"Hey, now that you mention it, why was your mom so excited about me and Luke dating?" Julie asked without moving her head to not mess up Luke's work.

"Because if I'm dating you, then I'm definitely not dating Alex," Luke said finally finishing the left braid, leaving it to the side and moving to the right. It actually didn't look half bad.

"Why would she think..." Julie trailed off and Alex noticed her eyes widen from the corner of his eye. "Wait. Wait, you two dated? By the Angel, you two dated!"

"Uh, Jules, you already knew that," Luke said with a chuckle, still trying to keep her head steady.

"Yeah, that's the reaction of someone who already knew," Flynn said with a snort.

"I certainly did not know that. When did you tell me? Because I'm pretty sure I'd remember it," Julie said, struggling to look at Luke who was determined to make the second braid too.

"I told you my first kiss was with Alex," Luke defended.

"There's your miscommunication," Reggie said with a chuckle.

"Luke, first kiss doesn't equal dating!" Julie said.

"I don't just go around kissing people!" Luke said.

"I'm sorry, weren't you two going to become parabatai?" Flynn interjected.

"Ah, but we didn't," Luke pointed out.

"Probably for the best," Alex added.

"I'm torn between saying that it kind of makes sense and also that you two would kill each other in a relationship," Julie said, moving her head slightly back when Luke tugged lightly at the hair on top of her head.

Reggie muffled a chuckle behind his hand, but didn't elaborate. Alex just rolled his eyes, but he was slightly smiling too. "We were seventeen, it lasted a month, decided we worked much better as friends and moved on with our lives. I'm pretty sure my mom knew and was just lying to herself to feel better," he added with a sigh.

"Look at the bright side," Reggie said, "if they actually do have things to do, they probably won't be in the Institute that much. And we still have to go on patrol so we'll also be absent. Everyone's happy."

"That's true..." Alex said.

"Also, we can always unleash Julian on them because he has a lot of things he wants to say," Luke added.

"Tempting, but if someone's going to say something first, I think it should be me," Alex said. What that was going to be, he wasn't sure, there were _too many_ things he wanted to say and he'd only brushed upon them that morning with his dad, but there was also his mom involved and he knew it was going to be harder with her. He just had no idea how to make them listen and understand. Because he could talk and talk and he was scared he was going to have to face their disapointment for one more time.

Because, really, how much more rejection could he take from them? 

And he wanted to not care, he really did. Maybe if he didn't, he would have said all he wanted to say long ago and be done with it. No matter how much his parents had hurt him though, no matter how he did have a different family who cared about him, they were still his parents. The people who'd raised him and supposedly cared for him. Their opinion mattered to him and he couldn't just decide it didn't. 

He didn't sleep well that night. He had no idea when he was finally able to fall asleep, but it definitely was too late and he felt like he was tossing and turning all night, his mind buzzing with everything that had happened since the moment he'd woken up. Somehow the full moon felt so long ago.

His alarm went off way too early. Or maybe not that early, but the lack of sleep wasn't helping his situation.

He reached for his phone to turn it off, only for his mind to slowly start rebooting and realize that wasn't an alarm, someone was calling him. He blinked through the sleep, looking at the screen and seeing an unknown number. The time read 9:45 am and honestly, why was an unknown number calling him at any point during the day?

"Hello?" he asked, his voice hoarse from sleep.

"Alex? It's Leah," she answered.

That was enough to put Alex into overdrive because why was Leah calling him at 9:45 am for something probably werewolf related and not Willie? "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly sounding more awake.

"Look, most of us were gathered at the bar, you know how it is after a full moon, just to make sure everything's cool and suddenly two Shadowhunters walk in and they've been talking with Willie inside and I really don't like this because we usually talk things with you or the guys, so who the hell are these people?"

"Okay, wait, wait, they came in to talk about what?" Alex asked already getting up.

"I don't know, they didn't really elaborate!" Leah said just as someone said something in the background.

"What?" he heard Leah answer confused. "Okay, we've been obviously listening in," she said back to Alex, "do you have any relatives in town?"

Alex froze. 

_There are some issues that need to be resolved..._

_There was an issue we needed to look into._

His parents talking to the werewolves was the last thing that needed to happen right now.

"I'm coming over," he said and hung up, rushing to get ready. He ran out in the hallway and down the stairs, almost falling into Reggie in the lobby.

"Woah, what happened?" Reggie asked him.

"The thing my parents are here for? It has to do with the werewolves, they're over at the bar right now," Alex said almost breathless.

Reggie's eyes went wide. "Shit, okay, let's go," he said, not even hesitating to join him. If he was being honest, Alex was kinda grateful, he really had no idea what he was walking into.

They got into the car, Alex stepping on it, his anxiety about what was happening over there superseding the anxiety of crashing into anyone. It was fine, his Shadowhunter reflexes would kick in and probably keep him alive anyway.

They got there in record time and Alex all but flung himself from the car and into the bar, Reggie following. The rest of the pack - or at least a lot of them - where there and turned around to face them as soon as they were in. Alex didn't waste any time with pleasantries, quickly making his way to the back and throwing the door open.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

Both his parents turned around to look at him confused and mainly surprised by his sudden arrival. Willie's face didn't change much, but Alex noticed the tension in his shoulders dropping slightly. 

"What are you doing here, Alex?" his mom asked him, evidently not happy that he was interrupting whatever this was.

"I just asked you the same thing. Actually, I've been asking since yesterday and haven't gotten a straight answer, _why_ are you here?" Alex said keeping his ground.

"This does not concern you," she said firmly.

"They think we've been going around biting people in the city," Willie said non-chalantly. Alex's mother turned to glare at him leaving him unfazed, instead actually smiling at her. Alex really loved that man.

"What?" Alex asked dumbfounded. "And you didn't think you should talk this through with your Institute first in case we knew something more?" he asked, turning back to his parents.

"We would bring the matter up with you right after we'd talked with the Alpha," his dad said. "How did you even know we were here?"

"There's been a couple of rogues in the area, nothing was instigated by the LA pack," Alex said, avoiding his question.

"You cannot know that-" his mom started to say.

"Oh, but you can?"

"Alex, there are so many things you're not aware of!" she said.

"Me?" Alex asked incredulously. "Because we've been having monthly meetings with all Downworlder leaders in the area and I've come in contact with the werewolves enough times to make me think that I'm more informed on the issues they face."

"You trust a random werewolf more than your own parents?" his mom asked, obviously not really caring about said werewolf standing right behind her. 

"I would trust anyone more than my own parents and that specific werewolf more so," Alex snapped pointing at Willie who bit his lip to hide a smile.

"Alex, you can't let your personal feelings interfere-" his mom started to say again and Alex decided he'd had enough.

"My personal feelings about you being awful parents?" he asked. "Or my personal feelings about Willie? Whom, by the way since we're on the subject, I've been dating for the past year."

He was met with understandable silence. His parents were trying to process everything, Willie was beaming in the background and trying to hide it and Alex had just been blessed with a surge of confidence that was going to quickly dissipate, but he was riding it out for as long as he could.

In retrospect, maybe it was better because the shock on his mom's face, definitely didn't leave room for anything else Alex was expecting, such as disasppointment, resentment, rejection, hate- okay, maybe he should stop before going down that rabbit hole.

"We will talk about this back in the Institute," she said, her voice tight. "We were done here, anyway," she added walking past Alex and out the door without sparing another glance at him. His dad did look at him almost... sympathetic? - had something happened Alex wasn't aware of during their time separate? - but followed his mom out, closing the door behind him again.

That was enough for the fight to suddenly leave him.

"You wanna sit down?" he heard Willie.

"Yeah, kinda," Alex said, nodding his head and he wasn't exactly sure how, but he ended up sitting on a chair by the desk, so that was good enough considering he couldn't feel his legs anymore.

"Let me just say, before you freak out," Willie said, kneeling in front of him and taking hold of both his hands, "I loved every part of that."

"I'm glad, because I think I'm gonna throw up," Alex said.

"Yeah, okay, I get that, but Alex," he said with a grin looking up at him, "you stood up to your parents! That's pretty amazing if you ask me. You also get extra points for defending my honor," he added, still smiling.

Alex breathed out a laugh. "We should cherish our time together because they're gonna kill me when I get back."

"You can always stay here," he said.

"That would be great..." Alex sighed as he leaned back, his eyes closing. "What did they tell you?" he asked, opening them again.

"That there have been rogues spotted in surrounding areas, outside of LA. I guess it makes sense, I mean someone bit Kayla two days ago and we still have no idea who it was. The question is if someone's doing this on purpose or it's just scared people who don't know what they're doing every full moon. Your parents may not be wrong to be worried about it. Not to say they didn’t just try to incriminate the whole pack with no proof as if this is a move to create some chasm in the Shadow World and I don't know, kill all Shadowhunters everywhere, but still."

"You think someone might be building a pack?" Alex asked.

"I don't know." It was Willie's turn to sigh as he got up. "I'll take a trip to the Shadow Market, see if anyone knows anything."

And Alex's mind was already going in overdrive thinking about what that meant. If someone was doing this on purpose, actually try to create a new pack, that meant they would soon make themselves known when they had the numbers. And if it was power they were looking for, they'd be trying to take over the werewolf population in LA. He didn't want to go that far, but Willie fighting with someone to the death for his Alpha position didn't sound like something Alex ever wanted to live through.

"I'd offer to come along, but it will probably do more harm than good..." Alex said. Shadowhunters weren't exactly welcomed with open arms in Shadow Markets.

"It'll be fine," Willie dismissed it, "Shadow Markets are actually pretty cool."

"Unless you're a Shadowhunter."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Willie gave him an apologetic smile.

A knock came on the door that made them both turn around.

"Yes?" Willie asked.

The door opened slightly and Reggie poked his head in. "Everything okay?"

"Sure... My parents think the werewolves are trying to take over the Shadow World, there are a lot more rogues going around turning people apparently and I just told them I've been dating Willie for this past year. I am probably never gonna hear from them again," Alex said.

"We don't really have to go back right away..." Reggie said.

"Yeah..." Alex said. "But we should." He got up. "At least to take this off my parents hands."

"What do you mean?" Willie asked.

"This is a real issue, someone needs to deal with it. I suppose it was pretty evident my parents are not the best judges of character..."

"They won't let it go easily, especially if they think you're doing it just to spite them," Reggie said.

"I know, let's just... I have an idea. As a last resort. I'm gonna use my words first and see where they get me."

* * *

Alex walked back into the Institute, his heart pounding as he thought about what was to come. He could do this, he had to do this, he _wanted_ to do this.

"You want me to come with you?" Reggie asked.

"No, it's okay, I'll be fine," he said. Truth was, he wouldn't mind having some kind of backup, but he knew he was heading into a fight and he really didn't want to put Reggie through that. He and Luke didn't miss the way he sometimes still flinched when things got too loud.

He wasn't sure where he was going to find them - and if he was honest he hoped he didn't - so he thought he'd start upstairs. They weren't in their room, or anywhere in the living quarters from what he could gather. He looked at the armory and kitchen and eventually settled on the library. There really wasn't anywhere else they could be.

He walked over, mentally preparing himself. He'd made a start back at the bar, he'd said some things that needed to be said, he just had to carry on. He did know the Institute's issues better than his parents did, that much he was certain about, he could convince them to let him and his friends take care of this.

As he got closer, he heard voices. He wouldn't have been surprised to hear his parents arguing with each other, but there was a third voice in there he hadn't expected.

"We have a job to do and if the Institute was a little more under control, maybe we wouldn't have trouble doing it!" his mom said.

"The Institute has been running perfectly, not that you would know that because you're not part of it anymore," Julian answered, his voice restrained as always.

"How do you expect to investigate Downworlders when you let your Shadowhunters have... interpersonal relationships with them?" she said, pausing in the middle of her sentence. Alex took a shaky breath, trying to compose himself.

"First of all, we don't _investigate_ Downworlders, we ask for their help if problems arise, especially when they affect us both. Second, no _relationship_ between Shadowhunters and Downworlders is forbidden and I genuinely don't know what you expect us to do, everyone here is an adult capable of making their own decisions."

"You don't understand-"

"No, _you_ don't understand," Julian cut her off. "I've lost so many people and I cannot for the life of me comprehend how would someone willingly push their child away because of who they are," he said. "Let's not hide behind our fingers, we all know that this is about Alex and your inability to be happy for him when he's clearly happy himself. Not that you would know that, you haven't been his parents for a while..."

"Julian, you have no idea what being a parent is-"

" _I_ have no idea?" Julian asked and Alex thought he almost sounded amused, but the anger he kept on his voice superseded everything else. "I raised five of my siblings ever since I was twelve. We took Reggie in when things got bad, we took your _son_ in when you decided you weren't going to do this anymore-"

"You are still a child, Julian, you won't speak to us-"

"So was Alex when he ran away and you didn't care to bring him back!" Julian raised his voice. "I am twenty six, hardly a child and I haven't really been one ever since the Dark War ended. I've come to terms with that. Alex was seventeen and who knows how long he'd been pretending everything was fine just to keep you happy."

"Too long," Alex whispered to himself.

"You don't get to lecture me on parenting," Julian said. "At least I'm there for my family when they need me."

There was a pause and Alex took a deep breath, finally deciding to make himself known. He couldn't have asked for a better prologue.

The door was slightly ajar, so he pushed it all the way open. They all turned to look at him, surprised he was actually there. Julian was composed as always, not willing to break down in front of anyone, his mom was furious with where the conversation was going and his dad... His dad hadn't talked in a while.

"You came here to investigate the rogues," Alex started, shifting the conversation to what he needed right now, "but you don't know what the actual issues here are. Let us handle it." He kept his voice level and firm. Showing them how much everything else affected him wasn't going to get him anywhere. "You don't want to be here anymore than I do! You don't like who I'm dating, you don't like who I am, but you know damn well I'm a good Shadowhunter and I can deal with this."

They didn't answer immediately, but eventually his mom said, "We can't just abandon the mission."

"You need permission? Wanna call the Consul? The order can't have come from a higher place," Alex said holding back a smirk. Yes, he knew the Consul. Yes, Alec knew who he was. Yes, he was definitely still freaking out about that.

"The Consul doesn't concern himself with such matters," she said. Which was true, it hadn't escalated that much, but Alex wouldn't hesitate to make the call. He would probably freak out later because he didn't want Alec to think he was using him, but if that was the only way to knock some sense into his mom's head, he was definitely doing it.

"We need to talk about it," she said with a sigh.

"Great, I'll be in Carrie's room," Alex said with a grin and turned around to leave. He hadn't even been planning to go there, but any chance to make his parents feel a bit more uncomfortable were always welcomed.

Julian followed him outside and back down the hallway. "You're okay?" he asked him.

"No, but you know," Alex said, "getting by."

"I'm sorry for what you heard, I didn't mean to-"

"You're sorry? Julian, you've completed everything I've been saying for the past couple of days perfectly, thank you," he said. "It's not fun and sure I wished things were different, but I can't do anything else. You and everyone here were there for me when they weren't. I couldn't be any more grateful for that."

Julian smiled at him. "Alex, you have a place here just as much as the rest of us. Also, if you give her the okay, Emma will go off much less respectfully, so keep that in mind in case you need it," he added making Alex chuckle.

"I think it's-"

"Alex!" he heard his dad, making him stop. He turned around, confused on how they could have reached any kind of agreement in the five seconds he was gone, but glad to be dealing with this sooner rahter than later. "Can we talk for a second?" he asked instead.

Alex didn't expect that, but also his dad hadn't said anything in so long and just his whole vibe for a while now had been... weird? Good weird? He wasn't sure.

Julian looked at Alex who nodded and he left them alone to talk. He turned to his dad, for the first time in a while not really sure what to expect. Was he going to tell him off for before? Was he going to tell him there was absolutely no way they’d let them handle this? Was this something different he was trying not to think about so he wouldn’t get disappointed when it eventually didn’t work out?

"Look, Alex, what you said," his dad started, finding difficult to put his words together. "It’s not- We don’t- I don’t-" he struggled.

Alex was even more confused now as to where this was going and he was outright shocked when his dad reached out and pulled him into a hug. He froze, not sure what he was supposed to do. His dad was _hugging_ him, he couldn’t remember when was the last time he’d received any kind of affection from his parents. Well, it certainly was at some point before three years ago.

"I know this comes three years too late and I know everything can’t suddenly change. Everything Julian said is true and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I’m really, truly sorry for what we did to you," his dad said.

Alex almost swayed on the spot. Had his dad just apologized?

Before he knew what he was doing, his arms wrapped around his dad too and he leaned into the embrace. Maybe they were still a long way from forgiveness, but he really needed this right now.

"You don’t want us here, I understand that. The mission is yours, I’ll talk to your mom, we'll go back to Idris. I would just..." he hesitated. "I’d like to get to know you again if that’s okay with you."

And Alex almost sobbed because he’d lost count of how many times he’d dreamed about his parents saying something along those lines. How many nights spent staring at the ceiling hoping the phone would ring and his parents would just apologize. He wanted to say _yes, yes of course,_ butwhat happened if his dad changed his mind? What happened if he decided he didn’t like what he found out and Alex was once again rejected for simply being? He definitely knew he couldn’t go through that, he couldn’t have the prospect of a good relationship dangled in front of him only to be taken away again.

"I understand if you don’t-" his dad started to say as he pulled back to look at him.

"No, I-" Alex hurried to cut him off. _Please don’t leave me again._ "Can I just- I need to think." He needed to talk to someone about this.

"Okay," his dad nodded.

"Okay," Alex said, "just, don’t leave before I come back." It sounded almost weird in his ears, but he needed to have it in words that Alex could actually talk about this with someone and still have his dad somewhere in the area to let him know about his decision.

"We won’t," he said, giving something to Alex to hold onto.

"Okay," Alex said again as he backed away, not exactly sure where he was going. Where would the others be? What time was it?

Morning, okay. He woke up at 9:45, it shouldn’t be later than 11.

Carrie! Carrie was saying something last night about all of them needing training - which first of all, rude - they were probably at the training rooms.

He walked over there, still in a daze, to find all of them sparring with each other. Luke was the first one to notice him, making him lose focus on what he was actually doing, which ended with Julie kicking him in the face.

He groaned in pain, taking a step back.

"Luke! I’m so sorry, are you okay?" Julie panicked as she neared him, trying to look at his face to see if it was bad.

"Yeah, yeah, I’m fine," he said, trying to dismiss it, but as soon as Julie's hand passed over his cheekbone he winced.

Reggie tossed a stele over to her and she caught it, drawing an iratze on Luke's arm. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, smiling when it didn’t seem to cause him any pain.

"Sorry," she said again.

"I think you need to kiss me again, I’m still in pain," Luke said with a pout.

"See? This is what I’m talking about," Carrie said. "You lose focus on the battlefield and you’re dead."

"Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to know how it went with Alex and his parents," Luke said turning back to Alex again, only for everyone else to notice him too.

"Free pass," Carrie said, more invested in Alex’s thing too. "Reggie told us what happened, how did it go?"

"I’m still not one hundred percent sure I didn’t dream half of it," Alex said as he walked further inside and sat on one of the benches.

"Is that good or bad?" Reggie asked.

"Well, Julian opened up for me before I showed up," Alex started, "pretty much told them they’ve been awful parents..." Luke looked almost proud of his brother as he came up to sit beside Alex.

"Then I made my case about giving us the werewolf mission which didn’t seem to resonate well with my mom until I of course played the Alec card..."

"I have the whole Lightwood-Bane family on speed dial," Julie offered.

"And then my dad caught up with me in the hallway, admitted they’ve been awful, gave us the mission, hugged me, _apologized_ and asked if I’d be okay with us trying to reconnect."

He was met with silence. "Yes, I know!" he shouted.

"What did you say?" Flynn asked.

"I don’t know, that I needed a second?" He groaned and leaned on Luke’s side who wrapped an arm around him. "What am I even supposed to say? Yes, I want this, of course I want this, but what happens if he decides it's not working? I can’t do that again."

"I’d say yes," Reggie said, making Alex turn to look at him. "I mean it’s not the same, I know, but if either of my parents went so far as to apologize and show interest I don’t think I could just ignore it." Alex could understand that and he really would have said yes right off the bat, but what happened if it all went wrong?

Julie came in closer and kneeled in front of him putting her hands on his knees. "I know you’re scared and honestly, I don’t know your dad, I don’t know how this is going to go," she said. "I don’t think he would reach out like that if he didn’t mean it though. It obviously doesn’t erase everything that’s happened, but you deserve for things to get better. I think you should give him a chance to make up for everything he's done if you’re up for it."

"And if something goes wrong, and that’s a _big if_ , you're not going to be alone," Luke said.

"Just say the word and Flynn and I will go off at him," Carrie said.

"I would honestly love that." Flynn beamed next to her making Alex smile.

He knew he wanted to say yes the minute he’d heard his dad talk. Because this could work. He could get his dad back and reconnecting with either of his parents had been something he thought was long gone. He had a chance now and he couldn't let it get away from him.

His parents didn’t stay for much longer as promised. His dad somehow managed to convince his mom to let this go and leave them in charge. Alex was glad he didn’t need to have another conversation on the matter. She didn’t tell him anything else before they left other than a cold goodbye. Alex really didn’t really expect something more.

He made plans with his dad. Actual, real plans to get together - he still couldn’t understand what was happening - next Friday. He was nervous, but looking forward to it. His dad gave him another hug before they left. Alex was almost starting to feel overwhelmed.

"So, this leaves us with an actual mission, right?" Carrie said as soon as the portal had closed up.

"Yeah, I hadn’t actually really thought this through, but I’m sure we can figure it out," Alex said with a small smile.

"I'm all for helping the werewolves, patrols and demons have started boring me," Flynn said.

"Those are still going," Julie tried to remind her.

"Do we have anything to start with?" Reggie asked.

"Yeah, my parents left back any information they had," Alex said as they all started heading to the library.

"All I’m hearing is 'no music time' and I do not like that," Luke said.

"You can sing during the breaks," Julie said.

"Yes, musical intermissions," Flynn said with chuckle.

"You know, some people focus better when there’s music on the background," Reggie suggested, making Luke’s eyes sparkle with mischief.

"And they never had a quiet day in the Institute again..." Alex sighed. He opened the door to the library and everyone filed in, gathering around the table.

"Name one day it’s been quiet in here in the past four years," Luke dared him with his arms crossed in front of him.

Alex thought about it for a second. "Okay, that’s fair," he conceded. "But we really do need to focus on this, it’s actually serious."

"Well, you’re obviously taking point, so the stage is yours," Carrie said with a smile.

Taking point, he hadn’t actually thought about that... Not that it didn’t make sense and he wasn’t ready for it. They were going to get to the bottom of this.

"Okay," he said grabbing all the notes and information his parents had left behind and scattering everything on the table in front of them. "Let’s begin."


End file.
